Lemon Caper Tilapia

I’m not a huge fan of red meat (or sausage) and chicken breasts can get boring if eaten enough times, so I’m always on the lookout for new fish and alternate protein recipes. If you have any favorites, please let me know!

This recipe got me from the get go – lemons, tomatoes, capers, and garlic, oh my! Is there anything better, especially in the last gasps of summer we’re now experiencing? Grab some fresh tomatoes while they’re available. Plus the fact that this is the seafood equivalent of slice and bake - slice veggies, bake fish in aluminum. Perfect gateway recipe for people who want to add seafood to their diet but haven't made it at home before. 

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve recently been experimenting with freezer cooking. One of the more useful resources I’ve found has been Once a Month Mom – a website with a large collection of recipes that have freezing instructions already spelled out for you (they also sell memberships to buy their monthly and mini meal plans). This was one of the first recipes from them that I made and I think you’ll enjoy it as well!

Tomato Soup

After my first year in college, I worked a variety of jobs over the summer – intern at an environmental NGO, babysitter, and in retail. It was the first summer I’d ever worked like that (at one point I estimated 60 hours/week was probably a conservative estimate) and about halfway through I just got tired of bringing my lunch. In some ways I was lucky – I was working at Nordstrom in the costumed jewelry department, so I could just grab something at the Café and eat it in the employee break room.

In fact, I’d go so frequently, I wouldn’t even have to beg to get them to serve me the children’s tomato soup special – a cup of their tomato soup and half a grilled cheese sandwich. If you’ve never had the tomato soup at the Nordstrom Café, you are missing out. It’s deliciously chunky, actually tastes like tomato, and has a fabulous mixture of herbs.

This soup doesn’t replicate the soup. I’ve found that I like a bit of spice in my soups, so instead of aiming for the sweeter, almost Bolognese flavor of the Nordstrom soup, this version is chunky with a hint of a kick. And I think I’ve succeeded nicely in this version.

Cauliflower Crust Thai Chicken Pizza

I previewed this pizza last week – didn’t it look fantastic? And then I teased you even more by suggested you’d never guess how I made it gluten-free. Of course, those of you who have to deal with me on a day-to-day basis have had to deal with hearing me brag about this recipe.

Because seriously, I made a pizza crust out of cauliflower. How cool is that?

I normally like to make this pizza with a regular crust, but this just seemed so much cooler. And gave me a chance to add another vegetable to my day. But disguised as a pizza crust. If you have a food processor, this recipe is seriously easy to make. Just use the shredding blade and the entire recipe will take you 30 minutes from start to eating. And that includes baking time.

Hope you enjoy!

Spicy Peanut Sauce

So, it’s been a while. Yikes! Sorry about that – I’ve still been cooking and baking, don’t worry on that front, but it hasn’t really been on weekends. And the light in my apartment is pretty terrible in the evening, so I wasn’t taking pictures. And what’s a cooking blog without pictures?

Boring.

Also, painfully un-updated. Speaking of, I finally updated the Recipe Index. I mean, sure some people enjoy scrolling through 4 months of recipes manually rather than going to a single page with all the recipes I’ve made, but I’m fairly sure they’re in the minority. In any case, it’s finally includes the recipes I’ve made since February.

The picture above is a teaser for next week’s recipe. This is the sauce I used in the pizza, but it’s also great on sandwiches, as a marinade for chicken, and on salads (add a splash of water to make it more liquid). I’m a huge fan of using it on pizzas as you can see, though you’ll never guess how I made it gluten free! 

So make this sauce to have on hand for next week's recipe - you won't regret it!

Boozy Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes - 2 ways!

I am always that idiot who gets pinched on St. Patrick's day. Every year I remind myself to wear green and yet the morning comes around and I'm happy enough to be dressed and have my hair free of snarls that I tend to forget my lofty sartorial goals.

This year I'm not going to bother with the clothes debate, instead I'm just going to bake stuff with Bailey's in it. Think that will get me a freebie from would-be pinchers? I mean really, if someone offered me a cupcake in exchange for not pinching them I think it's pretty clear what the answer should be.

Hope you enjoy these cupcakes!

Mudslide Oreo Cheesecake Cupcake or White Russian Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes
Adapted from my Oreo Cheesecake Cupcake Recipe

With the right Oreos, the White Russian version of this recipe is gluten free; sadly Bailey's is distilled from wheat and as such contains some gluten (though apparently some celiac experts disagree about what happens to the gluten proteins during distallation. In any case, try the Bailey's at your own risk if you are gluten intolerant).

Ingredients

Cupcakes

8 Oreos, whole

1 8-ounce package cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg, room temperature and lightly beaten

1/4 cup sour cream

Pinch of salt

For White Russian Cupcakes

1-ounce Vodka

For Mudslide Cupcakes

1-ounce Baileys

Frosting

2 ounces semisweet chocolate (about half a small bag of chocolate chips)

1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoons half-and-half

1-ounce Kahlua (for either Mudslide or White Russian cupcakes)

Equipment:

Muffin tin, cupcake liners, hand-mixer, mixing bowl, pot

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 275° F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Place 1 whole Oreo cookie in the bottom of each lined muffin cup.

Beat cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.  Gradually add the sugar, and beat until combined.  Beat in the vanilla.

Drizzle in egg a little at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add in sour cream and salt, beat to combine.  Pour in 1-ounce either Bailey's or Vodka and mix until incorporated. Divide batter evenly among the cookie-filled muffin cups, fill each cup almost to the top. 

Bake, rotating muffin tins halfway through, until the filling is set, about 22 to 28 minutes.

Transfer the muffins tins to a wire rack to cool completely.  

Make the frosting:  Set a bowl (heat resistant) over a pot of simmering water to create your own double boiler. Combined chocolate and corn syrup and whisk mixture often. Cook until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat, add the half-and-half and 1-ounce Kahlua, and whisk mixture until smooth.

Refrigerate cupcakes and frosting (in the muffin tins) at least 4 hours (or overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Makes 8 (serves 1)

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos

I love tacos, but sometimes I don’t love buying hamburger. So when I found this recipe for a veggie taco with two of my favorite veggies, I was sold. Joy’s tacos might take longer than simply browning hamburger and adding a packet of taco seasoning (which don’t get me wrong, can be delicious) but it’s cheap and tasty. I think my total costs came out under $5 for all the ingredients at Whole Foods. And really, how often can you brag about that?

I hope you enjoy!

Egg Drop Soup with Veggies

Egg Drop Soup was the first soup I made from scratch on my own. I had been paging through the Joy of Cooking (the only cookbook I owned at the time) to try to figure out what I could make with a limited budget and a limited trip to the grocery store (it was hovering around zero outside and I didn’t want to leave my dorm if I could help it). Luckily, I stumbled upon a recipe for Egg Drop Soup and the rest, as they say is history.

This version derivates from the original quite a bit – I added sliced mushrooms, garlic, and spinach to beef it up. This recipe is low-fat but stuffed with iron, protein, and taste.  It's the perfect soup with a cold wintery day as well as the morning when you wake up with a pounding headache and no amount of tea is making you feel better.

Baked Eggs with Leeks

One of the first dishes I learned how to make was fried eggs. My mother, being a clever woman, taught my sisters and I that the best part of eggs is the play value – as long as you have runny eggs, you can puncture the yolk with the crusts of your toast. So clearly I had to learn how to make them for myself as soon as I was allowed near a hot stove (it was longer than you think. I was a clumsy child, not allowed near hot glue guns or candles for fear of burning down the house. In retrospect, that was not an exaggerated fear).

Baked eggs are an extension of my love affair with fried eggs. I once made a recipe that called for stuffing them inside a tomato with pesto. This recipe is less time intensive (no hollowing out other foods to act as a container!) and is better suited to fall when getting good tomatoes, let alone fresh basil, is nearly impossible. Leeks are sauted before added to ramekins and topped with an egg. Wait about 10 minutes and you have an adorable and delicious breakfast. Or dinner. Or brunch. Whatever, it’s versatile, that’s all I’m saying.

Also, the play value remains intact. You can cook these to make sure the yolks remain runny, allowing you to chase errant strands of yolk around each ramekin with toast crusts. Because that is what makes life awesome.

Onion Soup with Apple Cider

Welcome to 2012! The world didn't end, so I guess the Mayan's had that part wrong. Hope none of you made any silly decisions expecting the Apocalypse to arrive. If you did, here's a soup recipe to cheer you up. 

Onion and apple cider might not sound like a good pairing to the rest of the world, but those people are what I what call wrong. Possibly even crazy if they dismissed the idea out of hand. Both are in season right now and play off each other wonderfully – the sweetness of the caramelized white onions is great next to the tartness of apple cider. Plus one-pot recipes are always a bonus when you don’t fell like doing dishes (which in my case is always).  You have to babysit the onions at the beginning to make sure they don’t burn, but after about 20 minutes of stirring occasionally, the hard work is done and you can sit back and enjoy until it’s done simmering.

Mark another tally in my checklist of things that make a recipe amazing (other categories include: taste, easy availability in the grocery store, and inexpensiveness).

Peppermint Bark

Welcome to Baking Extravaganza Day 3! At some point you just can't make cookies any more. Maybe you're out of flour, maybe you're out of eggs, or maybe you just don't feel like waiting in front of your stove for a minute longer. Well, you're in luck with this recipe. 

I used to sell Peppermint Bark when I worked retail - it came in a beautiful tin, but was really over-priced. So make your own! You'll save some money and homemade means no one is allowed to comment on how it looks. 

Flourless Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Welcome to Day 1 of Baking Extravaganza! When else during the year do you need so many cookie, candy, and sweets recipes in so short a time? The next two weeks will feature some of my favorite cookie, candy, and sweets recipes - some holiday, some classic, and some for people with allergies or food restrictions. Because this kind of excess needs to be celebrated in style, with this blog's first group of purposefully themed entries! I hope you find some new recipes during the next two weeks, or least drool a bit more at all the tasty sweets presented for your perusal. 


As you all well know, I love peanut butter and chocolate. You’ve seen my obsession in smoothies, cupcakes, and crispy treats so here’s another recipe to add to the pile: double chocolate peanut butter cookies.


I know, I started drooling at the name too. So wipe up the puddle that’s somehow started forming on your laptop and get to work! These little treats are easy to make (and easy to eat). At this point, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing. Let's go with good. This recipe is plenty easy to double if you'd like to bring in some to share (or you can do what I do, which is form the balls and freeze them, then pop out a couple at a time when you need a cookie fix). 

(Chicken) Tortilla Soup

What is it about tomatoes, black beans, corn, onion, and chili powder that smells and tastes so good? I image this soup would taste even better in the summer when you can get fresh corn, but even with frozen and canned vegetables this soup still tastes pretty amazing. This recipe makes a massive amount of soup, but a full freezer can be a wonderful thing.

Rice with Almonds and Raisins

You know those days when you have nothing in your fridge but it’s cold outside and you don’t want to leave to go get more food and you don’t have the budget for takeout? Just me? Well, you should like this rice recipe in any case. I found this recipe after a couple minutes of googling all the ingredients I had in my pantry in hopes that I’d find something appealing. Luckily the internet gods smiled down on me (seriously, what did people do without Google?) and this New York Times recipe popped up. Rice + raisins + almonds + coriander? Party in my belly.

I also appreciate that it’s one pot. One pot means far fewer dishes for me to remember to wash in the morning when I stare at my empty fridge and try to figure out what to eat for breakfast (Hint: it rhymes with mice with balmonds).

This made my apartment smell like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (fair given it shares two important ingredients) and for that alone, I will love this recipe forever and ever.

Moroccan Chickpea Stew

I made this stew the same weekend as the Cauliflower Soup. I started looking for a chickpea soup recipe because one lonely can of chickpeas had been sitting in my cupboard for a couple months and I had no idea what to do with it. It isn’t quite cold enough for one of my favorite chickpea recipes and I can buy hummus easily. Luckily, I stumbled upon two Chickpea Soup recipes that I thought could be combined to make one great recipe. I loved the spices in the first, but the addition of lentils and rice (and turmeric!) made the second one pretty appealing as well.

This one takes quite a bit of time, but makes enough to last you and some friends the week. If you’re like me, however, and tend to make a couple big dishes to bring as lunch and as a few last-minute dinners, than I think you’ll enjoy this one. 

Cauliflower Soup

Cauliflower is one of those vegetables I enjoy eating, but never think to buy for myself. For some reason, my eyes always move right past them and towards broccoli when I’m meandering in the produce aisle. Embarrassingly, this was the first time I’d ever prepared cauliflower (though I did have some fun hacking away at the core and leaves with my giant kitchen knife).

I ended up trying this recipe because I knew I wasn’t going to want to eat chickpea soup every day of the week for lunch and wanted another option. Given that I had every ingredient save for cauliflower already in my kitchen made this a very attractive option.  

Emma's Super Delicious Broccoli!

My sister Emma asked me to figure out how to make pork meatballs, which I did in this post. As a thank you she sent me her recipe for Super Delicious Broccoli, which I had to share with everyone (without her permission. Luckily it'll be another two years before she's a lawyer and can sue me for IP infringement). I've included both her pictures and the pictures I took when I made the recipe myself. Hope you all enjoy!

Roasted Eggplant Soup

Sometimes you just feel like soup, even if the weather is conspiring against you. When I made this soup, DC was a bit confused - instead of inching towards fall like most locales in the country, DC had decided it wanted to be a temperate rainforest. It was grey, drizzling, and overall dreary for a good part of the week. It also had 95 percent humidity. 

In a word, gross.

If I couldn't have a lovely fall day, at least I could have a tasty soup (served with awesome cornbread). This recipe combines the last of the available fresh tomatoes with eggplant, onions, and garlic. How could it go wrong?

Beef and Bean Chili

There’s a constant battle in my house when the topic of chili comes up. No, not the traditional Texan chili (no beans) versus other states’ chili (beans); rather, it’s over how much spice we’re allowed to use. I like my chili spicy – if I can’t taste cumin in every bite it’s not worth it – but my family seems insistent on eating versions that mostly taste like tomatoes (though they would claim they simply like having feeling in their lips, to which I reply, “whimps”).

When I first started cooking on my own after realizing that I could cook anything I wanted to for any meal (I can have quiche for all three meals today!), the second most important culinary realization I had was that I was in control of the spices. I could add cumin, cayenne, chili powder, and jalapenos if I wanted to – and I do.

This recipe is one of my favorite comfort foods; it’s easy to make, relatively cheap, and fills you up. In other words, the perfect antidote for a cold, gray, rainy day. Sorry for the lack of pictures - chili is remarkably tricky to photograph!

Black Beans and Yellow Rice

When I first tried making black beans, I had no clue what I was doing. I bought a can of Goya and made some rice. Then I opened the can of beans onto the rice and tried to figure out why so many people raved about black beans. They were mealy, kind of cold, and super bland. Then I checked the Internet and it turns out you cook canned black beans and season then before eating. And my parents thought I didn’t learn anything in college.

Additional life lesson? Spices make everything better. I like my beans spicy, so you’ll see a variety combined in the recipe but for some reason I wasn’t feeling my traditional white rice accompaniment when I started making these beans for dinner. I could pretend that it was a culinary yearning to expand my palette, but in reality I just wanted to experiment with turmeric again. I bought my first container for my lentil soup, but it was just sitting in my cabinet begging to be used.

Fun fact about turmeric: it’s also called the poor man’s saffron. Very apt in my situation.

So beans and yellow rice it was, and the turmeric was a very nice addition to a staple of my diet. Give it a shot!

My Mother's French Tart Recipe

This tart is a wonder in that it was a dessert everyone in my family could eat (from my father who is on a low-fat diet to my sister who eats gluten-free to my mother and I who like tasty desserts). It was also amazingly simple. The hardest part was pitting all the cherries and making sure they looked nice on the top of the tart.